The typically bustling summer months at the Central Florida Disney parks have been much quieter than usual this year. Several Walt Disney World Resort guests have reported significantly fewer crowds than expected, leaving once-packed walkways seemingly empty during what is typically one of the busiest times of the year.
Walt Disney World Resort is known for drawing large crowds during the summer, as families take advantage of school vacations to visit the parks. However, in 2025, something appears to be deterring guests from making the trek to the “Most Magical Place on Earth.” Disney Fanatic has covered the declining crowd levels in recent weeks, and many Disney park-goers are noticing the difference.
Guests have noted that wait times are unusually low, and walkways are less crowded than expected. Even with Disney offering various discounts on resort hotels, theme park tickets, and special add-on experiences, the crowds are still notably smaller than usual. Disney’s efforts to entice more visitors to Florida seem to be falling short, at least for now.
On June 17, a Reddit post from u/BeerandGuns sparked a discussion about the unusually low wait times across Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park.
“I’m looking at wait times as of 1:30 central time on June 17 and they are far lower than I would expect mid-June. Soarin 5 minutes, GotG 60 minutes, Tower of Terror 30 minutes etc. These are much lower than when we went in early March. Anyone there and have input on current park levels or employees seeing this? If I’d have known it was this reasonable I’d be there now,” the Reddit user wrote.
Several other Walt Disney World Resort guests chimed in with their own observations about the low crowds and quick ride access.
“I walked onto Remy last night and Soarin’ and many other rides today,” commented u/Least-Ambassador-781. “It’s been awesome.”
“Was there on Sunday with my bff who works there and we both kept commenting on how dead it was,” u/wafflebuggy replied. “She was shocked at some of the wait times. We waited 25 minutes to get on both FOP and GOTG. Which is the longest we waited for rides. We pretty much finished AK in 3 hours save for NRJ which had the longest wait time of 40 minutes. MK had the longest wait times that day and I saw ROTR down to 35 at one point, but we didn’t hit up HS that day.”
But it’s not just the parks that seem quieter. “It’s empty here in the area in general right now—not just Disney,” said u/sparty219. This user also noted that hard-to-book restaurants, such as Space 220, were suddenly showing availability, even for dates in July and August. “Anecdotally, living just a few miles from Disney, I’d say that foreign tourism is way, way down,” the guest continued.
Many Reddit users speculated the reasons behind the drop in crowds, citing everything from the current economic climate to the extreme Florida heat.
“It is hotter than the first level of hell here,” u/ChevronSugarHeart wrote. “The economy is uncertain—nothing is conducive to coming right now.”
Others pointed to a possible competitor in the area: Universal Orlando Resort’s new Epic Universe park, which opened just a few weeks ago. “
To add in, Epic Universe opened 2 weeks ago,” said u/Dramaticnoise. “I just got back from Disney World and the heat was… rough.”
u/Ad-hocProcrastinator agreed, stating, “People are going with a brand new park that opened up a month ago 20 minutes up the road.”
Despite all of this, some Disney Parks fans maintained that the crowds were actually expected for the time of year.
“Wait times look pretty normal to me,” u/Chris-Jean-Alice commented. “I think the old summer is packed thing isn’t really true anymore, they’re busy all year round now and only during peak Christmas time are they really that slammed.”
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Not sure about this “report” I drive bus at WDW and we have been plenty busy. More so for the parks opened later as it has been very hot during the day. Last night, June 18 MK had extended hours for Deluxe resort guests until 1am. Many of the guests I was returning to the Riviera Resort around 10pm said they couldn’t believe how long the wait times were. That surprised me. She said Tron was still at 120 minutes. The Dumbo ride was over an hour and even Goofys Barn Stormer was 45 minutes. I told her my opinion was because its been so hot during the day more people are staying inside or at the pool.